According to Iraqi and United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) figures, January was the deadliest month in Iraq for the last six years, with more than 1,000 people being killed, the majority of them civilians. However, February has shown little improvement, with the violence still increasing across the country. Some two months before the general elections in Iraq, more than 50,000 families have been displaced from the western Anbar province where the Iraqi military are trying to regain control of Ramadi, the capital of the province. “Over the last six weeks up to 300,000 Iraqis, or some 50,000 families, have been displaced due to insecurity around Fallujah and Ramadi” in Anbar province, a UN refugee agency statement released last Tuesday, said. “Most of the displaced have fled to outlying communities in Anbar province to escape the fighting, while 60,000 persons have fled to more distant provinces,” the statement added, summarising remarks made by spokeswoman Melissa Fleming in Geneva. The UN said last month that the number of people displaced by the fighting in Anbar was already the highest since the brutal sectarian violence of 2006-2008. The Iraqi Red Crescent and the Iraqi office of the International Red Cross are cooperating to help these families, which have fled to Baghdad, Kerbala, Kirkuk, Salaheddin and to the safer parts of Anbar. They urgently need shelter, but the increasing violence will only increase their numbers. Talib Albayati, mayor of the town of Sulaiman Bek 140km north of Baghdad and linked administratively to Tuz Khormatu in the Salaheddin province, said that gunmen now controlled many parts of the town. Dozens of families had fled to Tuz Khormatu, 10km north of Sulaiman Bek, he said, and others had left their houses in search of shelter. Sulaiman Bek is on the main road linking Baghdad to Kirkuk and the north of Iraq. Tuz Khormatu, a mostly Turkmen town, also continues to be the target of terrorist attacks, and over the past six weeks there have been car bombs and IEDs detonated there on an almost daily basis. The victims have been Turkmen living in the centre of the town. Yildrim Tuzlu, a teacher in the town, said that “not only in Tuz Khormatu, but also in every city and town that experienced Arabisation before 2003 and Kurdification after 2003, the Turkmens live in the centre as a sign that these towns and cities were originally Turkmen.” Against the background of the daily violence, Muqtada Al-Sadr, the leader of a powerful Shia political movement and a major figure in post-Saddam Iraq, has announced his exit from politics two months before the legislative polls. “I announce my non-intervention in all political affairs. There is now no bloc that represents us, nor do we have any position inside or outside the government or parliament,” Al-Sadr said in a written statement last Sunday. Al-Sadr's group currently holds six cabinet posts, as well as 40 seats in the 325-member parliament. He said that his movement's political offices would be closed, though others related to social welfare, media and education would remain open. After the statement, Sadrist parliamentarians announced their withdrawal from the parliament, though they still attended sessions a day later. While many Iraqi politicians have asked Al-Sadr to remain on the country's political scene, he has insisted on keeping to his decision. Also last week, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki visited the battleground city of Ramadi, where security forces and allied tribesmen have been fighting for the past six weeks to retake gunmen-held areas. During the visit, Al-Maliki was briefed on the progress of military operations in the Anbar province's capital and met leaders of powerful local tribes, an official from his office said. In his speech in Ramadi, Al-Maliki promised to provide jobs for 10,000 young men from Anbar and to allocate special funds to rebuilding the province and meet local needs. At the same time, the special representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Nickolay Mladenov, welcomed an announcement by Iraq's defence ministry that there would be a 72-hour halt to military operations around the city of Fallujah. “This announcement has raised the possibility of boosting the much-needed delivery of humanitarian aid to thousands of families in critical need of assistance in Fallujah and other parts of Anbar province,” Mladenov said, noting that the continued fighting, including shelling, was hampering the delivery of goods, food stuffs and relief items. “The UN will continue to work with the government of Iraq, local authorities and the people of Anbar to ensure that emergency aid is delivered to those in need,” he added. The UN envoy also appealed for the swift implementation of the Iraqi cabinet's plan to address the security and humanitarian situation in Anbar. Some two months before the general elections are due on April 30, a new law has been passed by Iraqi MPs to raise the retirement benefits for civil servants. The law, which has been long-awaited, has faced wide criticisms amid accusations that politicians will use loopholes in it to secure lavish benefits for themselves. Article 38 in the new law gives benefits to MPs whose pensions were cancelled after tens of thousands of Iraqis organised demonstrations against MPs' high salaries and pensions. After the new law was passed, demonstrations began again in Baghdad and many central and southern provinces demanding the cancellation of Article 38. Voters have also promised to use their votes in the forthcoming elections to sanction MPs who do not work in their interests. After the demonstrations, many MPs said that they had not voted for the new law, and the demonstrators demanded the publication of the names of those who had done so. While people in Anbar province have been accusing their MPs of abandoning them during their difficulties, all Iraqi voters have criticisms to make of their MPs. These MPs have been trying to defend themselves, whether they are in Iraq or whether they have been used to spending months outside the country. The truth of the situation today is that all Iraqis feel themselves to be the targets of violence and terror and all of them want increased security.
